“Of course I need to draw more cards! How else will I keep up with the Joneses? Now if I could just figure out who the Joneses are . . .”

Last week we succeeded in activating Appropriate.

What do we do with it now?

Appropriate does not allow you to draw any cards when you first activate it. As a result, it has a delay—“the waiting period”—but this delay only affects you when you first activate (flip face up) Appropriate and will not occur again after it resolves.

Let’s return to our example from last week that used Pot of Greed. After our opponent drew his or her two cards from Pot of Greed’s effect, we began a new chain by activating Appropriate. When our Appropriate resolves, we do not draw any cards. It simply establishes itself on the field and then it waits for our opponent to draw card(s) outside of his or her draw phase. When this happens, we will get to draw our two cards when he or she draws his or her card(s).

Example:

Bennie enters his first main phase and activates Disturbance Strategy. His opponent Oscar has no response, so the chain is allowed to resolve. Oscar shuffles his hand into his deck and then draws his cards. This is the final action of the effect and the chain is complete, so Bennie decides to begin a new chain by activating his set Appropriate. Again Oscar has no response, so Appropriate resolves and establishes itself on the field. At this point Bennie still does not draw any cards, but his Appropriate is now active and will allow him to draw two cards the next time his opponent draws card(s) outside of his draw phase.

Refer to our example from last week involving Destiny Hero - Defender. After Appropriate resolved, it became active on the field and then waited for our opponent to draw another card outside of his or her draw phase. For the sake of example, let’s assume that he or she does not and has no way to defeat Defender or Appropriate. Your turn begins and ends, with you keeping both cards in the same state. Now your opponent starts his or her next turn and, upon entering his or her standby phase, Destiny Hero - Defender activates again. This time things will be different.

Your Appropriate is now active. This time, when your opponent draws a card due to Defender’s effect, you will draw two cards. You’ve now balanced out the handicap and maintained a significant wall of defense on the field. Given the right defense cards, this combination can be very frustrating.

An active Appropriate can interact with cards that normally would not allow it to activate, like Graceful Charity. We know that we cannot activate Appropriate after Graceful Charity resolves, but what happens if our opponent uses Graceful Charity while our Appropriate is already active? In this case, when our opponent draws three cards, we will draw two cards, but we will not have to discard.

Situations like this underline how vitally important it is to understand the distinction between activating Appropriate and using the effect of an already-active Appropriate. You will get the most from Appropriate when you can recognize every opportunity to activate it or use its effect.

Using Appropriate during the battle phase is possible, but the damage step will cause problems. The damage step is notoriously finicky. It will not allow you to activate a set Appropriate, but it will allow an already-active Appropriate to do its job unhindered.

Confused? Remember that activating Appropriate and using its effect are two different actions with separate results. Activating Appropriate during the damage step is forbidden because it does not increase or decrease a monster’s ATK nor is it a counter-trap card. Using the effect of an already-active Appropriate does not use the chain and therefore finds a way to do its job despite being in the damage step.

Consider The Bistro Butcher from Metal Raiders. This monster was first on players’ minds when Appropriate was released because it initially seemed like the perfect card for the job. This may be true for an active Appropriate, but it doesn’t help a set Appropriate become activated because it is not possible to activate that card in the damage step. Players had to rely upon their opponent drawing cards through Pot of Greed or Card Destruction to get Appropriate started.

After Appropriate is successfully activated, things change. While it is active, you can take full advantage of any card-drawing effects that activate in the damage step.

We all have a few monsters in mind, don’t we? Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive has been quite popular among players for its card-drawing flip effect. Usually our opponent is the only one gaining from it, but while our Appropriate is active, we can take advantage of the effect as well. In such a case, our opponent would draw one card and we would draw two. Skelengel falls prey to the same tactic.

Do you see how Appropriate makes distinctions between its activation and its active state? We cannot activate Appropriate when our opponent’s Dekoichi or Skelengel resolves its flip effect in the damage step, but with an active Appropriate we will draw 2 cards.

This distinction is often the greatest source of frustration for players who want to fully utilize Appropriate. In the early days of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, it was enough to sour anyone, but over time we’ve seen the release of many cards that support Appropriate well, and every student of Duelist Academy should take note.

Appropriate isn’t a card you can just throw into any deck and expect to work with any kind of consistency. This becomes quickly apparent when you try to deal with its activation requirements. It demands a certain level of commitment and planning from its user, but I think you will be happy with the rewards.

Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com